Terminal for pneumatic carriers.



Patented July 9, IBM.

u. BITNER.

TERMINAL FUR PNEUMATIC CARRIERS.

(Applicltion filed I05. 25, 1901.)

(No Modal.)

xiii J Y mission to the carriers.

theirs STATES errant 'iQ-LFHCE HARRY BITNER, OF BERWYYN,'ILLINOIS.

TERMINAL FOR PNEUMATIC CARRIERS.

forming part of Letters Patent No. 677,928, dated July 9, 1901.

Application filed February 26, 1901. Serial No. 48,645. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Belt known that I, HARRY BITNER, acitizen of the United States of America, residing at Berwyn, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Terminals for Pneumatic Carriers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in terminals for pneumatic carriers, the object of the invention being to afford an upward-discharge terminal combining the greatest efficiency in the delivery of the carrier with the minimum amount of required power to produce the necessary air-current through the terminal to accomplish the trans- To these ends I have so formed and arranged the various parts of the terminal as to reduce to the minimum the resistance to the passage through the terminal of both the carrier and the air-current.

The invention consists, therefore, in certain novel features in the way of form, construction, and arrangement of the various parts, which will be fully described below and the essential features of which will be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a median section of the preferred form of terminal made by cutting apart the two halves of the same in the plane 1 l of Fig. 2, and Fig. 2 is a horizontal section in the broken line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

In terminals of this sort great difficulty has been encountered because of the resistance to the air in its passage to the terminal and the consequent necessity for the'use of unnecessary power in the blower or other device for producing the necessary suction, such resistance also causing in some cases an unpleasant sound which becomes exceedingly tiresome to the operator sitting alongside of the terminal forany length of time. Great annoyance has also been caused by the breaking of the discharge-valves of the terminals, and great ingenuity has been employed in providing means for insuring the discharge of the carrier with sufficient force to operate the valve and yet be checked in passing to and throughthe same, so as not to emerge with undue velocity.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the ordinary discharge pipe or tube through which the carrier comes to the terminal, and B the suction-pipe, through which the air is drawn by suitable means by the blower or other suction device. These pipes are preferably arranged side by side, and it is common to provide sockets in the terminals to receive and retain them in position. In this terminal the sockets are shown at b b and are preferably joined by a cross connection W. The terminal itself is preferably made in the form of two castings B B of which'one only, B, is shown in the section in Fig. 1. This figure shows an upwardly-convex dischargepassage 6 preferably curved through one hundred and eighty degrees to reverse the direction of the carrier and provided at its dis-- charge end with a pivoted valve 0, secured by means of a pivot 0 between brackets 17* b on the outside of the end of the terminal. A coiled spring D is provided under tension in the proper direction to assist the closing of the valve, overcoming the gravity thereof and tending to crowd the valve toward the closed position with whatever force is necessary to the best operation of the system. The dotted lines in Fig. 1 represent the position in which the carrier reaches the end of the dischargepassage, and said dotted carrier is lettered D. It will be noticed that it comes to the valve in a slightly-tilted or oblique position, with one side of its front face in advance of the other, such advanced side being on the inner side of the discharge branch. The valve is pivoted upon the opposite side, so that the advanced edge of the carrier strikes thevalve near its free end instead of near the pivoted end, which is common with this class of carriers.

This improvement has two advantages. In the first place, it makes the initial opening of the valve, which is the most diflicult portion thereof, much easier, because the force of the impact of the carrier is applied much farther from the pivotof the valve, and, in the second place, it removesa great deal of the danger of breakage by striking the valve upon the opposite side from the pivot instead of between the greater portion of the valve and the same. At the instant at which the carrier strikes the valve the inertia of the valve on the opposite side thereof from the pivot causes a breaking strain upon the valve at the point which receives the blow. With the pivotal arrangement here shown the portion of the valve beyond the point of impact is comparatively slight, the greater portion being between that point and the pivotal axis. The greater ease of opening enables the carrier to be transmitted through the system with less velocity, thereby effecting saving of power and also reducing the difficulty encountered in checking the carrier sufficiently to avoid its discharge with obj ectionable force.

A suction branch of the terminal E is formed in the shape of a reverse curve preferably tangent to the discharge branch at about its middle portion and following the reverse curve until it comes into line with the suction-pipe B.

When the valve 0 is closed, the passage of the air-current through the terminal is by means of the easy curves formed by the righthand portion of the discharge branch and the suction branch E, terminating substantially in line with the suctionpipe. In this terminal there are no sharp corners about which the current of air must pass, nor is there any abrupt reversal of the direction of the air-current. On the contrary, the air changes its direction gradually, and thus avoids undue resistance and also unpleasant sounds.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A terminal for pneumatic carriers having two substantially parallel adjacent pipesockets, an upwardly-convex discharge-passage, connecting with one of said pipes at one end, and provided with a discharge-valve and a suitable connection for the suctionpipe; substantially as described.

3. An upward-discharge terminal comprising suitable sockets for the discharge and suction pipes respectively,walls providing an upwardly convex, substantially semicircular discharge-passage connected at one end to the discharge-pipe, a suction'passage connected with the discharge-passage near its discharge end and also with the suction-pipe, said suction'passage being in the form of a reverse curve approximately tangent at one end to the discharge-passage and in line at the other end with the suction-pipe and a valve covering the discharge end of the discharge-passage pivoted to the walls thereof upon the convex side of said discharge-passage; substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, this 18th day of February, A. D. 1901.

HARRY BITNER.

Vitnesses:

Guns. 0. Snnuvnv, S. BLIss. 

